Sunday, May 11, 2008

I have had Three Floyds Gumballhead, a pale wheat ale, on my radar for quite some time but only now did I get around to obtaining some. It's one of those beers you hear about first when starting to explore the craft brews from around the country. Gumballhead's fame comes from it's relatively liberal hopping for a wheat beer and scores a 4.23/5 overall score on BeerAdvocate. Please take note of that score because a 4.23 for a wheat beer of any kind on BeerAdvocate means it must be an amazing beer. It's 0.03 away from being ranked in the top 100 beers (aka the top 100 Russian Imperial Stouts) on the site. Amazing. I feel fortunate that I found somebody who could get a 6 pack straight from the brewery to send me, thus increasing the chances of maximum freshness (I won't get up on that soapbox just yet).

So hoping that it lives up to the hype I popped the cap on a beautiful, 71 degree, minimally smoggy afternoon in Southern California. In the glass it looks pretty tame, in fact stereotypes might take over for a few seconds and you could possibly think there's no way this thing is going to be that tasty. Wrong. The aroma on this beer gets you off to a running start. HOPS. Melon, citrus, maybe a touch of pine or some sort of greenery are all you get. It's got something about it that lets you know it's still young out of the tanks- just the way I like it. The taste isn't too discernible from a standard pale ale. Again, the hops define this beer. Juicy, citrusy, and not much of a bittering punch to it allowing it to finish really clean. I really like this beer and can't think of any other that would be finer for sipping on a Summer afternoon.